For structural, misc and sheet metal fab shops

I'll Find at Least $25,000 Hiding in Your Change Orders and Put an AI Employee to Work Bringing It In... or Your Money Back

First I find exactly where the money is. Then I build AI employees that work 24/7 to bring it in. Live in about two weeks, from $2,500.

That's my AI front desk. It books you a time with me.

Rather type? Ask Joshua AI anything about the Profit Engine.

Questions first? Read the answers.

Joshua Boswell, founder of Strahes Consulting

Trusted by

  • Corel
  • Sony
  • Google
  • Toshiba
  • Microsoft
  • General Motors
  • Collectorz
  • Agora
  • AWAI
  • StreetAuthority
  • Weiss Research

You already did the work. Some changes and extras never made the invoice.

Open quotes. Unbilled change orders. Past-due invoices. I've been hired to consult with over 317 companies, from Sony Media to St. Jude. Every single one had unrealized profit, and needed three things to get it.

  1. Discovery to find the profit.
  2. A plan to go get it.
  3. The systems and manpower to get it done.

But most owners are too busy to pin down #1 and #2. So they bolt AI onto #3... and get mediocre results faster, for more money.

We find the profit, make the plan, then deploy ASIEs to get it done.

What's inside your Profit Engine

  • Your Profit Roadmap. We identify your top 3 unrealized profit opportunities, ranked by what each one is worth.
  • 80/20 System Design. A step-by-step plan to go get that money, built around how your shop really runs.
  • ASIE Built and Deployed. We don't just consult. We deliver your AI system and all the training needed.

25 years of finding money companies missed

Found in their operations and marketing.

  • St. Jude

    $22 to $34

    Average gift.

  • TechnicalLead

    $20K to $300K+

    Monthly revenue, after a 90% drop. We rebuilt the pricing and the offer.

  • Collectorz

    $3M to $15M

    In 24 months.

  • Corel

    $24M campaign

    With a 29.4% buy rate.

"They got to the root of problems we didn't even know we had."
Conrad Feagin, CEO, TechnicalLead
"Joshua... immediately tripled his client's business in less than three months."
Perry Marshall, author of 80/20 Sales and Marketing
"I wish we could hire you as one of our national sales guys. The way you word stuff, and the results we're getting, is just incredible... some of the best I've seen."
Gordon Braun, Toshiba

What's an ASIE?

Autonomous Super Intelligent Employee

An AI employee that does one job well, 24/7. Like...

  • An estimating assistant who gets every quote out fast.
  • A follow-up salesman who calls back every open quote.
  • A change-order tracker who bills every revision and extra.

Dozens more to choose from

Hear one at work

Call (832) 430-6855 right now

That's my AI front desk. It books you a time with me.

How it works

Your Profit Engine, up and running in about two weeks.

  1. Discovery.

    You, me and your key people walk through how the shop really runs and dig into your real numbers.

  2. Deep 80/20 planning.

    We focus on estimating, change orders and billing, find high-leverage ways to capture your unrealized profit, and map it out in your Profit Roadmap.

  3. Build and launch.

    We build and deploy your first ASIE so you see results right away.

What I need from you

  • Between 30 minutes and 3 hours of your time in all, scheduled around your bid days. That's an interview, usually 30 to 45 minutes, and a walkthrough of your Roadmap when it's ready.
  • Short conversations with a few of your key people, like your estimator, a project manager and whoever does your billing, only where they help.
  • Access to the whole business, like your bid log, change order log, T&M tickets, pay apps, invoices and job cost reports. A non-disclosure agreement keeps all of it confidential.
  • Nobody on your team has to build or maintain anything. Your bids keep going out and the floor keeps building.

Pick your Profit Engine

Every option includes your Profit Roadmap and the build. Your Profit Roadmap decides where each ASIE works.

  • 1 ASIE

    $2,500

    On your #1 opportunity.

    • Discovery with you and your key people
    • Your Profit Roadmap, your top 3 opportunities ranked by what each one is worth
    • 80/20 System Design that fits your operations
    • 1 ASIE built and deployed on your #1 opportunity, with all the training needed
    • Backed by the 10x promise

    $1,250 to start

    $1,250 on delivery

  • 2 ASIEs

    $5,000

    On your top two opportunities.

    • Discovery with you and your key people
    • Your Profit Roadmap, your top 3 opportunities ranked by what each one is worth
    • 80/20 System Design that fits your operations
    • 2 ASIEs built and deployed on your top two opportunities, with all the training needed
    • Backed by the 10x promise

    $2,500 to start

    $2,500 on delivery

  • 3 ASIEs

    $7,500

    Biggest jump, shortest time.

    • Discovery with you and your key people
    • Your Profit Roadmap, your top 3 opportunities ranked by what each one is worth
    • 80/20 System Design that fits your operations
    • 3 ASIEs built and deployed on your top three opportunities, with all the training needed
    • Backed by the 10x promise

    $3,750 to start

    $3,750 on delivery

Your fee carries forward. Add more ASIEs within 60 days of your Roadmap and every dollar you paid counts toward them.

Hosting runs about $100 to $500 a month after delivery.

Terms. Start with a 50% deposit, refunded if we miss 10x. The other half is due on delivery. Pay by card here, or email hello@strahes.com to pay by ACH or invoice.

Not sure how many you need? That's normal. Start with the gap you already know about.

Call (832) 430-6855. My AI front desk will work through it with you and book you a time with me.

Rather type? Ask Joshua AI anything about the Profit Engine.

Download this page as a one-page PDF

My promise to you

If we don't find 10x your Profit Engine fee in unrealized profit opportunities, you get every dollar back.

You pay half to start. You approve the 10x at your Roadmap readout, before we build anything.

On a $2,500 Profit Engine, if we don't find at least $25,000, we refund your deposit and the Roadmap is yours.

Every dollar we count names the process it comes from and ties to a number from your own books. Nothing gets counted twice. You and I sign off on the total together.

Claim 1 of 10 spots before December 31.

Your Profit Engine, up and running in about two weeks. From $2,500.

Start with a 50% deposit. Refunded if we miss 10x.

What happens when I build the employee

None of these are fab shops. They're real companies with real systems, and every number here is from a real client. Look at Susan Kuse... she was the only one who could do the work. If you're the only one in your shop who can price a job, you know that feeling.

CopywriterMarketer

37,000 students

Mentored on their own custom learning paths by one AI system I built.

BrickROI

40 days

From zero to built, branded and selling.

"Another team burned six months and $57,500 of mine with nothing to show for it. Joshua had my whole platform built, branded, and selling in under 40 days. He doesn't just write code, he understood my business and built exactly what it needed."
Founder, BrickROI

AI Beauty Consulting

10 hours to 30 minutes

For every client assessment, with no drop in quality.

"Every client assessment ate more than ten hours, and I was the only one who could do them. Joshua built me an AI system that runs the whole thing in my own voice, and now it takes about thirty minutes with no drop in quality. He handed me back my business."
Susan Kuse, Founder, AI Beauty Consulting

TabulaWorks

1 system

Runs an entire company's daily operations.

"Joshua engineered the AI operating system that runs TabulaWorks. The daily operations and follow-up that used to eat our team's evenings are all carried by the system now. It runs without us, and it's why we can serve the clients we do. He understands the business as well as the engineering, which is almost impossible to find."
John Hare, Co-Founder, TabulaWorks

The work hasn't changed. I find the money.

What's new is that I can now build the employee that goes and gets it.

Is this a fit for your shop?

This is a fit if...

  • You own the shop, or run it with real authority.
  • The shop is busy and making money, and you know it should be keeping more of it.
  • Work slips through the gaps... revisions nobody priced, extras nobody wrote up, retainage still sitting on closed jobs, bids nobody followed up on.
  • You want it found and fixed in weeks, not studied for months.
  • You'd rather fix one gap well than buy another software package your people won't use.
  • Your estimating runs through one person, maybe you, and you'd bid more work if it didn't.

It's not a fit if...

  • You just want help picking estimating or detailing software. I'll happily point you to one.
  • You'd rather nobody looked at your bids and job costs. That's fair. This needs them.
  • You want AI for its own sake, not for profit.
  • You need a detailer, an erector or another welder. That's a different hire. We don't touch the steel... we find the money around it.

Questions and answers

What exactly do I get?

Your Profit Roadmap, with your top 3 unrealized profit opportunities ranked by what each one is worth. An 80/20 System Design that fits your operations. And your ASIEs built and deployed, with all the training needed. One, two or three, depending on the option you pick.

Where does the money usually hide in a fab shop?

In the gap between what you built and what you billed. A revision nobody priced. An RFI answer that added steel. An extra your crew said yes to in the field with no ticket. A T&M ticket nobody got signed. Retainage nobody chased at closeout. A back charge nobody disputed. Then there's the work you never won... bids and quotes nobody followed up on. I won't guess which ones are real in your shop until I've seen your numbers. Your Roadmap ranks what we find by what each one is worth.

Will an AI be pricing my bids or calling my GCs?

Not without you. Every number that goes out under your name stays your call, or your estimator's. An ASIE does the legwork, like logging every addendum or checking every outgoing quote for missed items, wrong material or old pricing. Nothing with your price on it reaches a GC or a customer until you or your estimator sign off. And before one calls or writes to a GC for you, about a bid, a ticket or retainage, you approve what it says, and it says it's an AI.

We already have a change order log and estimating software. Why would we need this?

Good. Keep them. A change order log holds the changes somebody wrote down. Your software holds the numbers somebody typed in. The money hides in what never got that far... the change nobody wrote up, the signed one that never made a pay app, the T&M ticket still sitting in a truck. Discovery checks what you built against what you billed, in your own numbers. Then an ASIE works that gap every day.

Your clients include Sony and Corel. What do you know about a fab shop?

You know steel better than I do, and I won't pretend otherwise. What I bring is 25 years of finding money companies missed, and the problem looks the same in every business... work that got done and never got billed. Discovery is where I learn your shop, from you, your estimator and your PM. At your Roadmap readout, before anything is built, you judge whether I got it right. And if we don't find 10x your fee, you get every dollar back.

I'm the estimator, not the owner. Where do I start?

Bring this page to your owner. The Roadmap runs on the shop's real numbers, so whoever owns or runs the shop has to say yes. But you're the one who sees the extras slip, and Discovery includes short conversations with key people like you. If your owner wants to talk first, my AI front desk books a time with me.

Is this an AI pitch?

No. The diagnosis is my judgment, from 25 years of finding money companies missed. AI is the tool that does the work once we know where the money is. If the best fix is a better change order form, not AI, I'll tell you.

Why pay for this instead of a free consultation?

You wouldn't bid a job off a napkin sketch. A free call can tell us whether we should talk. It can't find the money. Finding it means digging into your bids, change orders and invoices with you and your people. That's the real work... interviews, your numbers, and ASIEs built and working.

What's an ASIE?

An Autonomous Super Intelligent Employee. It's an AI employee that does one job well, 24/7, alongside your team or on its own. Think of a change-order tracker who bills every revision and extra, or an estimating assistant who gets every quote out fast.

How long does it take?

About two weeks for your Profit Engine to be up and running, with your Roadmap and your first ASIE. If something's bigger than two weeks allows, we trim the scope and keep the date.

How much of my time does it take?

For you, between 30 minutes and 3 hours in all. That's an interview, usually 30 to 45 minutes, and a walkthrough of your Roadmap when it's ready. For your team, short conversations, only where they help. Nobody has to build or maintain anything.

What if you don't find anything?

Then you get your money back. You approve the 10x at your Roadmap readout, before anything is built. If we can't show at least 10x your fee, we refund your deposit and the Roadmap is yours.

How do you count the 10x?

Every dollar we count names the process it comes from and ties to a number from your own books. Nothing gets counted twice. Recurring revenue counts only for as long as your average customer really stays. If they stay three months, a saved subscription counts as three months. If they stay twelve, it counts as twelve. If a fix should keep customers longer, I count that only when your own data can prove it. You see every line, and you and I sign off on the total together.

What does hosting cost?

About $100 to $500 a month in total, not per ASIE, starting after delivery. Simpler builds cost less, complex ones a little more. That keeps your ASIEs running.

Where does my data go?

Read-only access where possible. We sign a non-disclosure agreement, so everything you share stays confidential. Your data stays yours, and nothing is shared or mixed with anyone else's. I keep none of it unless your hosting needs it or we agree to it. If we stop working together, you get all of it back, and I verify every copy is deleted.

How many ASIEs do I need?

Start with how many gaps are costing you money. Revisions that never got priced are one. Bids nobody followed up on are another. One clear gap, one ASIE. Two or more, the bigger options. More than three, or more than one shop, we'll scope it with you on a call. Not sure? Call my AI front desk or talk it through with Joshua AI, and we'll size it together.

What happens after?

That's up to you. Some owners run with the Roadmap themselves. If you want more ASIEs built, your fee carries forward. Start within 60 days of your Roadmap and every dollar you paid counts toward them. Either way, your ASIEs come with your own admin screen, so you can adjust them as you go and upload new files to keep training them.

Why only 10?

Because I keep it small so each one gets my full attention before December 31.

The employees your fab shop could never hire.

Every hire below goes after money your shop already earned, or should have.

Each ASIE takes a piece of work, like getting T&M tickets signed or catching every drawing rev, and runs it start to finish, on every job.

Think of these as ideas. Some fit a shop with its own field crews, some a shop that fabricates and ships. Your Roadmap picks the ones to build, by what each is worth in your books.

The job nobody wants.

T&M tickets, closeout paperwork and bid follow-ups are the work nobody wants, so they sit in a truck or never get done.

Operations

The money you already earned, leaking back out.

  • A T&M ticket chaser who gets every T&M ticket signed by the GC's super while the work is still fresh
  • A cert pack builder who pulls every mill cert and welder cert into the closeout package, so retainage isn't held up
  • A back charge rep who checks every GC back charge and builds your answer from your tickets, photos and signed approvals

Sales & Marketing

The money you never earned in the first place.

  • A follow-up salesman who calls back every open quote and bid until you hear who got the job
  • A prequal keeper who keeps your insurance certificates and prequal current with every GC, so you stay on their bid lists
  • A win-back rep who reaches out to every GC and customer who stopped sending you work without a word

The job you could never justify a salary for.

A job cost analyst or an estimating assistant would pay for itself, but a shop your size could never justify the salary.

Operations

The money you already earned, leaking back out.

  • A job cost analyst who checks every job's hours against the estimate and flags overruns that are really unbilled changes
  • A supplier scorekeeper who grades every steel supplier and galvanizer on late, short and wrong deliveries, and chases the credits
  • A retainage chaser who follows every finished job until the retainage is paid, long after your last delivery

Sales & Marketing

The money you never earned in the first place.

  • An estimating assistant who logs every addendum and drafts each quote letter, so your estimator gets every quote out fast
  • A bid list builder who finds every GC bidding work in your area and gets you on their bid list
  • A bid history analyst who studies every bid you've won and lost and spots the GCs who just shop your number

The job no human could ever do.

Nobody can read every drawing rev, every field ticket, every pay app and every bid invite, all day, every day.

Operations

The money you already earned, leaking back out.

  • A revision checker who compares every drawing revision to the set you bid and flags every change, clouded or not
  • A change-order tracker who catches every revision, RFI answer and field extra, and stays on it until it's billed
  • A pay app checker who checks every pay app against every approved change and signed ticket before the GC's cutoff

Sales & Marketing

The money you never earned in the first place.

  • A bid invite sorter who reads every invitation to bid and its specs, and flags the jobs worth your estimator's time
  • A quote checker who checks every outgoing quote against the latest addenda, the whole spec book and current steel pricing
  • A project scout who reads every planning agenda and project announcement nearby, so you hear about the job before bid day

Which ones sound like your shop? Your Roadmap tells us which to build first.

If some of your work never made the invoice, let's go find it.

Pick your Profit Engine and start with a 50% deposit. You approve the 10x at your Roadmap readout, before we build anything.

Want to talk first? Call (832) 430-6855. My AI front desk books you a call with me.

Terms. Start with a 50% deposit, refunded if we miss 10x. The other half is due on delivery. Pay by card here, or email hello@strahes.com to pay by ACH or invoice.

Download this page as a one-page PDF

The Profit Engine for Metal Fabrication Shops | Strahes Consulting